Automatic postage stamp printing



Feb. 27, 1940. A'. R. KIVIALHo ET AL AUTOMATIC POSTAGE STAMP PRINTINGFiled March 29, 1937 2"She ets-Sheet 1 Feb.'27, 1940. A. R. KlvlALHo-E-rAl. 2,191,657

lAUT-M'J.'IC POSTAGE STAMP PRINTING l 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 `Filed March 29,1937 [/v vf/v 70H5. mm1 Ruhm( K/v/ALHo and Toivo adu- OLU'ONEAQ theenvelopes.

Patented Feb. 2 7, 194

y 2,191,667; AUTOMATIC POSTAGE STAMP IfRINTING Aksel Richard Kivialhoandn'loivo yPetterlol jenen, VHelsingfors, Finland; Alli SanniKoljonenexecutrix of said '.loivo` Petter Koljonen,

deceased .Application March 29, 1937, serial'A No. 133,638

` 2 Claims.

The postage is usually paid by stamps .glued to .The purchase of suchstamps, however, causes some inconvenience to the public, especially inthe country, Where the post offices are open during some ,few hoursonly. .To keep the post offices open day and night would, again, causetoo large expenses to the post administration. To remove this drawback,We have invented an apparatus by the aid of which the letters may beprovided `with a printed stamp corresponding to the postage to be paidon inserting into the apparatus the amount ofthe postage, for instancea2 cent coin.

The construction of this apparatus is illus-v trated on the accompanyingdrawings, in which Fig. l is a front .elevation partly in section andpartly in perspective of theA apparatus.

I Fig. 2 a sectional view along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 a sectional View along line 3-3 of 1.

Fig. 4 a cross vsectional view along line 4-4 of Fig. 1 sho-wing theccin channel.

Figure 5 shows the base plateseen from the same point as in Fig.v l butdrawn to a larger scale.

vFigure 6 is a section thereof taken on the line 6 6 cf Figure 5. l

Figure 7 is a sectionthereof taken on the line 1-|1 of Figure 5.

Figure 8 is a plan of the slide and Figure 9 is a side elevationthereof.

In Fig. l reference I 6 indicates the place at which the letterv to 4bestamped is placed.y II is the die by the aid of which the letters areprovided with a printed. stamp. The shaft o f this die is .extended andits forged end I2 reaches into the magnetic coil I3. When it is desiredto stamp the letter I0, an electric current is fed to the windings ofthe coilI3 whereby the electromagnet will pull4 the piece I2 of forgediron into the middle of the coil and the die II will thus eiect thestamping of the letter.

A spring I4 is provided for the purpose of pulling the die II back intoits original position .after the stamping ofthe letter. The top end I2of thel die and the return spring I4 are conveniently placed Within acylinder I5, provided at its base with openings I I. These openings Aarecovered by a rubber ring I1 surrounding theshaft of the die and attachedto the lid of the cylinder I5.

When the die moves downward for the purpose of stamping the letter, theiron block I2, formed into a piston of the cylinder, expels the airthrough the openings 4I6 which is not prevented by the rubber ring I1.The letter III is placed and yreach the switch in which theyfwill upon arubber cushion I8 for the purpose of obtaining a soft contact betweenthe die 'and the letterto be stamped. When the die is again raised 'therubber ring I1 will close the air holes coins to be inserted into theapparatus. vFor the purpose of preventing the introduction civ toovsmall coinsl into the switch I9 the `channel 2l leading from the coinslot is arrangedin' an inclined position and in its bottoinfsurface'v anopening 23 is provided, through which too small coins are adaptedl tofall out so that they` will not reach theswitch I9. Coins ofthe propersize will allfrom the path 2'I into thechannel v21| havel the positionshown at 25. f

A slide 21 is horizontally movable on the bottom plate 26 theconstruction of said members being illustrated in Figures- 5 to 9. Theplate 26 has a' hole 61. in the middle as'shown in. Figs..5,

6 and 7. Said slide'21 is .made of a straightplatev as illustrated inFigures 8 and 9 and for the guidance of said slide 21. there are in theplate 26 grooves 68 'on either side of the hole 61 in which grooves vtheslide 21 `moves' forwards and backwards. AsY can beseen from. Fig. 8 theslide v21 Whichenters the coin `passage 29 when the slide"l is in astate `oi rest, has a recess 28 ,in the thickness` of the coin passage.and plate 26 are shown in section, thersection being taken on.thelinef3-3 of Fig. 1 but the contacts are in full lines, beingdisposed above the section line. For,r the pin 39 the base plate hasa'hole, shownA in Fig. 5, and designated by the number 69. The-slide 21will -no't therefore be in the way of thexpin 39. From the recess inthev slide 21 the coins are ejectedwhen the 4slide moves inthe directionof the arrowshowrr in turn, guide them into the` passage 46 which leadsthem into the cash box of the apparatus The base plate has in thepassage 24 a hole 29 right throughenabling the coins to fallout of theapparatus Which may only take place when the bottom plate 6I is pushedto one side which Fig. j1, towardsthe springs -whichfin their N isachieved by means of the members 63 and 62.'

lThe construction of the switch I9 is best shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

'Ihe switch is formed by two springs 3G and 3l separated by aninsulating member 32 on which the spring 3l is mounted so as to liesubstantially parallel to the spring v3l). The conductors 33 and 34 areconnected to the contacts35 and 36 carried by the opposing faces of thespringsv land 3|. lower end into` U shape and at its end fixed to a partof the structure whilst the connectionV of,

the spring 3l with the spring 36 is above the bend as shown in Fig. 2 sothat said spring 3l will follow the movement of the., spring 36 when thebutton 37 is pressed in the direction .of the arrow so that the spring3l comes against the member 39. If a coin is in the colnchannel'at 25the member 39 will form an abutment and stop the further movement of thespring 3l and Y in the continued pressing of the button 31 in thedirection of the arrow 38, the movement of the spring 3l being stopped,the spring 30, will move towards the spring 3l bringing together. thecontacts 35 and 36 completing theelectric circuit whereby themagneticcoil is energised and the die moved'downward and will effect thestamping of the letter Il). If there is no coin in the coin channel at25 but the button 3l is nevertheless pressed in the direction of thearrow 33 the top end of the spring 36 will hit against the abutment 46before the spring 3l reaches the slide 2l. Thus the contacts 35 and 36cannot close the electric circuit unlessthere is a coin in the coinchannel When the die l l is brought to move downwardly the pin 4lattached to its shaft will bring the bell-crank 43 which is attached tothe shaft 42 to .turn its arm a down and its arm b sideways as indicatedby the arrow. By the aid of the arm 44 the slide 2l is likewise pushedsideways on the bottom plate 26. By the` iniluence of the springs 45attached t0 the bottom plate 26 the coins v25 will then be thrown fromthe cavity 28 (Fig. 3) vof the slide 2l into the coin channel 46 andthence into the'box 4l. When the die Il returns to its ,uppermostposition the slide 2l will likewise return so that its'cavity 28 will belevel with the coin path 2,6. v l .For therpurpose of countingthe numbervo stamped letters the apparatus is provided with a controlling ydevice48. For the control a` paper tape 49, which may be provided with gures,is transported along the table 56. On Aa shaft 42 situatedabove the diea rod 5| is attached, which by a link 52 is connected to a two-armedlever On stamping lthe letters the end c of the lever 53 is moveddownwardly and the needle 54 will make va hole in the paper tape 49.Simultaneously the pawl 55 attached at the end d of the lever .53 willrelease theratchet 56 by one tooth. When the lever 53 returns to itspreceding position the pawl 55 will rotate the ratchet 56 and the papertape will move forwardly between the wheels 5l. The number of holes madeby the pinl into-the tape indicates` the number of stamped letters. s

If the control tape 49 is nished and the post administration does notdesire the apparatus to Y The .spring 35 is bent at itsy upon the papertape will, when the tape is iinished, become depressed into a slot 59made in the control table. On the top end of this arm is attached aplate 60 which will then fall in front of the coin opening 2li thuspreventing the intro- Y l. apparatus, after introduction of the coindoes not desire the same to stamp a letter. For this purpose the coinpath 24 (Fig. 2) is made movable.

The member 6I of the coin path 24 comprises a lever 62 journalled in thebottom plate 26. On pushing the rod 63 the bottom 6l will move away frombelow the coins which will then fall into a ychute 46 conducting thecoins out from the apparatus. For the event that the coins should,sometimes, become fastened in the inclined coin path 22, the one wall 64of the coin path` is made turnable upwardly on the pin 65 (Fig. 4). Bypulling the rod 66 the wall 64 of the path 22 is raisedk and the coinsbecome free. The rod 66 may, by the intervention of a lever, not shown,be connected l,

to a button situated outside of the apparatus. The most convenientarrangement is to connect the movements of the rod 63 and the arm 66 toa press button situated outside of the apparatus,

so that the bottom 6l of the coin path and one f side 64 of the coinsieve will open simultaneously. It is obvious that many changes may bemade in the parts of the apparatus without deviating` from the scope ofthe invention, theA above described embodiment being shown simply by wayof example as a prefered embodiment which hasy been found to operatewell in practice.

Having now particularly described and ascertained this lour inventionand in what manner the r same is to be performed, we hereby declare thatwhat we claim is: 1

1. An apparatus for stamping printing on letmoving the switch to aposition wherein the pin thereon abuts the coin and whereby furthermovement of the button causes the switch to close to energise thesolenoid. f

2. An apparatus for stamp printing on letters, a support for the letter,a die, a reciprocable rod at its lower end carrying said die, anarmature carried by the upper end of said rod, a coil surrounding saidarmature, said armature sliding in said coil, an electric circuitconnected to said coil, a switch in said circuit, said switch `includingtwo parallel plate springs having opposing contacts, a coin slot infront of the apparatus, a coin passage connected with said slot, a pushbutton f or operating the switch, a pin actuated by said switchandabutting a coin in the coin passage closing the switch to energisethe'solenoid and means for retractng the die.

